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Prism #1-2
Dreams of Darkness Rising
The Prisms of Power - ancient artefacts made by a long dead race containing terrifying magic.
The Ghasts - dark wizards who have surrendered their souls for the might of un-death.
Emelia is trapped in servitude to uncaring and haughty masters. When tragedy strikes, strange powers emerge within her - powers of the Wild-magic, sorcery reviled by the elemental orders. Escaping from her masters, Emelia embarks upon an epic adventure to find the Prisms and defeat the lord of the ghasts. Only she holds the key to their location but the Wild-magic comes at a dire cost...that of her mind.
Dreams of Darkness Rising is the first volume of the Prism Trilogy, an exciting new epic fantasy series .
The Ghasts - dark wizards who have surrendered their souls for the might of un-death.
Emelia is trapped in servitude to uncaring and haughty masters. When tragedy strikes, strange powers emerge within her - powers of the Wild-magic, sorcery reviled by the elemental orders. Escaping from her masters, Emelia embarks upon an epic adventure to find the Prisms and defeat the lord of the ghasts. Only she holds the key to their location but the Wild-magic comes at a dire cost...that of her mind.
Dreams of Darkness Rising is the first volume of the Prism Trilogy, an exciting new epic fantasy series .
- GenresFantasy
474 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 23, 2011
1 person is currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Ross M. Kitson
11 books28 followersI think that all authors are readers first and foremost. I've read since I can remember and since I can remember I have loved the escapism of fantasy and science fiction. This tendency was naturally propagated by the boom in sci-fi of the late Seventies and I became an unashamed fan-boy for Star Wars, Dr Who, Star Trek and BSG.
I read the Hobbit at age 10 and at the time got heavily into RPG and through this found a creative focus. I relished the design of worlds, of scenarios, of adventures, of stories. Yet it wasn't until my late Thirties, when I began reading for fun again, rather than study, that I decided to write.
The fruit of my labour is a two-thirds complete epic fantasy trilogy and a MG/YA sci-fi/Steampunk novel. The former is now on Amazon kindle and will be out soon in print. The latter is sat gathering dust on a publisher's desk in Cambridge...
When I wrote my novel I wanted to re-create some of the heroic fantasy that I loved as an adolescent. I wanted to create something that felt contemporary, exciting, adventurous, with quirky memorable characters and punchy dialogue. I think I've managed that and I also think I've created a detailed and interesting fantasy world to go with it.
The website http://sites.google.com/site/worldofn... should show you more.
I read the Hobbit at age 10 and at the time got heavily into RPG and through this found a creative focus. I relished the design of worlds, of scenarios, of adventures, of stories. Yet it wasn't until my late Thirties, when I began reading for fun again, rather than study, that I decided to write.
The fruit of my labour is a two-thirds complete epic fantasy trilogy and a MG/YA sci-fi/Steampunk novel. The former is now on Amazon kindle and will be out soon in print. The latter is sat gathering dust on a publisher's desk in Cambridge...
When I wrote my novel I wanted to re-create some of the heroic fantasy that I loved as an adolescent. I wanted to create something that felt contemporary, exciting, adventurous, with quirky memorable characters and punchy dialogue. I think I've managed that and I also think I've created a detailed and interesting fantasy world to go with it.
The website http://sites.google.com/site/worldofn... should show you more.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 23, 2012
[Note: the publisher has reformatted the book into two volumes, Book 1: Chained, and Book 2: Quest. This review refers to the original combined edition. Book 2 has an additional Prologue and Epilogue.]
It's always a pleasure to come across a richly imagined secondary world, and the author has produced a terrific example here. There are whole continents, mountains, islands with realistic climates and distances worked out; there are humans with clearly differentiated races; there are cities and keeps and ports with distinctive characteristics; there are details of languages and religions and clothes and food and customs. There is a long list of intriguing sentient non-human races - the hermaphrodite Galvorians, for instance, and the avian Netreptans who live in cloud cities. Oh, and mer-people. There are knights who fly on griffons. There are numerous different nations, a multitude of alliances and a several thousand year history. All of these combine to create a wonderfully textured and nuanced backdrop to the story. And there are maps - lots of maps, very detailed, and a list of characters and a glossary and a timeline. This is great stuff, and I love it.
The magic system is not well defined yet, although mages are aligned with the four elementals of earth, air, fire and water, there are wild mages and dark mages and rebel mages, and there have been mage wars, suggesting a turbulent history. And the prisms of the series title are clearly an important part of things. There are also clear limits to what is possible with magic, and costs involved, which I like to see. Nothing is as dull as a character with virtually unlimited powers.
With so much detailed background, it does mean that the early part of the book is littered with references to people, places, events which are a mystery, but this is traditional in fantasy and it isn't hard to keep up. Besides, the reader is drawn in by the other great strength of the book - its characters, who all feel like real, well-rounded people. And if the early focus, the slightly naive Emelia, is not particularly interesting yet, there are others who are - Jem and Hunor, for instance, and the shape-shifting Marthir and her pals. I like the female knight, as well - nice to see women in non-traditional roles, doing their own thing, not simply there as motivation for the blokes.
I do have one quibble about Emelia. For an otherwise meek and sensible person, she shows a reckless tendency to listen at doors or chase after people she shouldn't. It's like those cheap horror films when the hero(ine) hears noises in the basement at night... Sometimes you should just run the other way. To be fair, the author establishes this aspect of her personality right from the start, but still it seemed a slightly implausible way to get her to overhear or see things. But I like the way she takes control of her own destiny, and isn't simply pushed around as a victim. There are times when she seems quite passive, following the others' lead, but it isn't unreasonable, given her age and experience.
The plot is nothing very original. There's a servant girl who has innate powers which make her special, which she has to learn to control. There appears to be an evil mage with a dastardly plot to enhance his abilities and make himself super-powerful. There are political machinations going on. There are some clichés around - the dreams, for instance, although this is part of the title, and actually I think they work rather well. Some of the plot devices are a little threadbare - the debauched son of the house, the I-don't-know-what-came-over-me blackouts, the mysterious stranger in the graveyard and so on. Once the story gets properly under way, however, there's plenty of action going on, with sword-fighting and mage battles and the like, and we get to travel around this wonderful world too, which is great fun. I very much liked the ruined or changed cities which dramatically paint in the historical background, far more effectively than the mini info-dumps, or characters explaining it.
Some minor issues. The author's writing style is nicely evocative without being overblown, but there are a few typos, especially with names, and there are numerous sound-alike spelling howlers and a grammatical error or two which had my inner pedant screaming. This is not uncommon in self-published works, but it does detract from an otherwise well-written book. However, the series has recently been picked up by a publisher, so hopefully these problems will be fixed.
The middle sections sagged a little in places, but mainly because I was so invested in the two threesomes (Emelia, Hunor, Jem; and Marthir, Ygris and, um, the other one) that any digressions from their stories seemed annoying to me. I'm not sure that we really needed to see the bad guys up close anyway, busily pursuing their evil sorcery, with a little recreational dismemberment thrown in. This can work to explain their motivation, but (unless I missed something) the objective seemed to be the usual thing: power, global domination, yada yada, without much more underlying it than irredeemable evil. But these episodes did serve to fill in some of the backstory. There is a whole heap of backstory to fill in, it has to be said, and the author seems keen to ensure the reader knows every last drop of it.
What I liked: the wonderful characters and their interactions; the world and everything about it (the detail here is incredible); Emelia's 'inner voice', who even has her own name - Emebaka (is she really a separate entity, or just a part of Emelia? this had me guessing all the way through); the complexity of characters' motivations and actions (Orla's rigid knightly code versus Hunor's pragmatism, for instance, and the difficulty of knowing who is on who's side). There's also some very nice thinking in the different cultures: the Goldorians have a repressive religion which keeps women well wrapped up and burns mages at the stake yet is very liberal with the workers, while the Eerians have slavery and a knightly code of honour. It's terrific to find such thoughtful details in the background. I also liked the romantic tension between the main characters, which was extremely subtle and nicely done.
What worked less well for me: there's lots of action (which is fine), but all too often it was hard to see a logical reason for it and every journey seemed fraught with bad guys and various monsters leaping out of nowhere; and then it was surprising how often someone quite unexpected would come to the rescue at the last moment. To be honest, the numerous skirmishes got a little repetitive after a while. I'm not a big fan of fight scenes, so I tend to let them just wash over me, but they all seemed to be pretty well thought through and moderately realistic, as far as I could tell. There was a certain amount of beheading and dismembering, and blood gushing and so forth, but it never got too gross. The backstory just got too complicated sometimes (too many empires and wars and magely goings on to keep track of). I also lost track of some of the characters from time to time, so I was mystified when they turned up out of the blue (Livor, for instance, or Torm). Happily, my Kindle makes it easy to check back to previous appearances.
The ending seemed a little disjointed. The various characters split up into numerous subgroups each with its own action, and sometimes I had trouble keeping up with who was where and who was fighting whom. One big climactic battle would have been more satisfying, somehow. I was left puzzled by a couple of things - where did the wolf-like thingy come from? and where exactly was the crystal? But I assumed that was just me not paying attention - I was racing through it at the end, desperate to see how it all turned out. On the whole, despite a few minor quibbles, this is an excellent start to the trilogy - richly imagined, well written and thoroughly absorbing. I loved all the main characters, with their quirks and complexities and quarrels and insecurities, and I loved this beautifully detailed world, which feels completely real. A very enjoyable read, and I look forward to the rest of the series. Four stars.
It's always a pleasure to come across a richly imagined secondary world, and the author has produced a terrific example here. There are whole continents, mountains, islands with realistic climates and distances worked out; there are humans with clearly differentiated races; there are cities and keeps and ports with distinctive characteristics; there are details of languages and religions and clothes and food and customs. There is a long list of intriguing sentient non-human races - the hermaphrodite Galvorians, for instance, and the avian Netreptans who live in cloud cities. Oh, and mer-people. There are knights who fly on griffons. There are numerous different nations, a multitude of alliances and a several thousand year history. All of these combine to create a wonderfully textured and nuanced backdrop to the story. And there are maps - lots of maps, very detailed, and a list of characters and a glossary and a timeline. This is great stuff, and I love it.
The magic system is not well defined yet, although mages are aligned with the four elementals of earth, air, fire and water, there are wild mages and dark mages and rebel mages, and there have been mage wars, suggesting a turbulent history. And the prisms of the series title are clearly an important part of things. There are also clear limits to what is possible with magic, and costs involved, which I like to see. Nothing is as dull as a character with virtually unlimited powers.
With so much detailed background, it does mean that the early part of the book is littered with references to people, places, events which are a mystery, but this is traditional in fantasy and it isn't hard to keep up. Besides, the reader is drawn in by the other great strength of the book - its characters, who all feel like real, well-rounded people. And if the early focus, the slightly naive Emelia, is not particularly interesting yet, there are others who are - Jem and Hunor, for instance, and the shape-shifting Marthir and her pals. I like the female knight, as well - nice to see women in non-traditional roles, doing their own thing, not simply there as motivation for the blokes.
I do have one quibble about Emelia. For an otherwise meek and sensible person, she shows a reckless tendency to listen at doors or chase after people she shouldn't. It's like those cheap horror films when the hero(ine) hears noises in the basement at night... Sometimes you should just run the other way. To be fair, the author establishes this aspect of her personality right from the start, but still it seemed a slightly implausible way to get her to overhear or see things. But I like the way she takes control of her own destiny, and isn't simply pushed around as a victim. There are times when she seems quite passive, following the others' lead, but it isn't unreasonable, given her age and experience.
The plot is nothing very original. There's a servant girl who has innate powers which make her special, which she has to learn to control. There appears to be an evil mage with a dastardly plot to enhance his abilities and make himself super-powerful. There are political machinations going on. There are some clichés around - the dreams, for instance, although this is part of the title, and actually I think they work rather well. Some of the plot devices are a little threadbare - the debauched son of the house, the I-don't-know-what-came-over-me blackouts, the mysterious stranger in the graveyard and so on. Once the story gets properly under way, however, there's plenty of action going on, with sword-fighting and mage battles and the like, and we get to travel around this wonderful world too, which is great fun. I very much liked the ruined or changed cities which dramatically paint in the historical background, far more effectively than the mini info-dumps, or characters explaining it.
Some minor issues. The author's writing style is nicely evocative without being overblown, but there are a few typos, especially with names, and there are numerous sound-alike spelling howlers and a grammatical error or two which had my inner pedant screaming. This is not uncommon in self-published works, but it does detract from an otherwise well-written book. However, the series has recently been picked up by a publisher, so hopefully these problems will be fixed.
The middle sections sagged a little in places, but mainly because I was so invested in the two threesomes (Emelia, Hunor, Jem; and Marthir, Ygris and, um, the other one) that any digressions from their stories seemed annoying to me. I'm not sure that we really needed to see the bad guys up close anyway, busily pursuing their evil sorcery, with a little recreational dismemberment thrown in. This can work to explain their motivation, but (unless I missed something) the objective seemed to be the usual thing: power, global domination, yada yada, without much more underlying it than irredeemable evil. But these episodes did serve to fill in some of the backstory. There is a whole heap of backstory to fill in, it has to be said, and the author seems keen to ensure the reader knows every last drop of it.
What I liked: the wonderful characters and their interactions; the world and everything about it (the detail here is incredible); Emelia's 'inner voice', who even has her own name - Emebaka (is she really a separate entity, or just a part of Emelia? this had me guessing all the way through); the complexity of characters' motivations and actions (Orla's rigid knightly code versus Hunor's pragmatism, for instance, and the difficulty of knowing who is on who's side). There's also some very nice thinking in the different cultures: the Goldorians have a repressive religion which keeps women well wrapped up and burns mages at the stake yet is very liberal with the workers, while the Eerians have slavery and a knightly code of honour. It's terrific to find such thoughtful details in the background. I also liked the romantic tension between the main characters, which was extremely subtle and nicely done.
What worked less well for me: there's lots of action (which is fine), but all too often it was hard to see a logical reason for it and every journey seemed fraught with bad guys and various monsters leaping out of nowhere; and then it was surprising how often someone quite unexpected would come to the rescue at the last moment. To be honest, the numerous skirmishes got a little repetitive after a while. I'm not a big fan of fight scenes, so I tend to let them just wash over me, but they all seemed to be pretty well thought through and moderately realistic, as far as I could tell. There was a certain amount of beheading and dismembering, and blood gushing and so forth, but it never got too gross. The backstory just got too complicated sometimes (too many empires and wars and magely goings on to keep track of). I also lost track of some of the characters from time to time, so I was mystified when they turned up out of the blue (Livor, for instance, or Torm). Happily, my Kindle makes it easy to check back to previous appearances.
The ending seemed a little disjointed. The various characters split up into numerous subgroups each with its own action, and sometimes I had trouble keeping up with who was where and who was fighting whom. One big climactic battle would have been more satisfying, somehow. I was left puzzled by a couple of things - where did the wolf-like thingy come from? and where exactly was the crystal? But I assumed that was just me not paying attention - I was racing through it at the end, desperate to see how it all turned out. On the whole, despite a few minor quibbles, this is an excellent start to the trilogy - richly imagined, well written and thoroughly absorbing. I loved all the main characters, with their quirks and complexities and quarrels and insecurities, and I loved this beautifully detailed world, which feels completely real. A very enjoyable read, and I look forward to the rest of the series. Four stars.
October 16, 2013
I’ve always loved fantasy so when this book was recommended to me by a friend, I jumped at the chance to read it. I expected it to be good, but it wasn’t – it was fantastic!
Emelia is an impoverished girl who was sold into servitude by her island-dwelling parents. She works hard, dreams a great deal, and has a sassy side (although she doesn’t dare show it at the beginning). She has a voice in her head (Emebaka), an alter-ego of sorts, who often encourages her to step outside her comfort zone yet is occasionally the voice of reason. When Emelia’s closest friend is murdered by the father of her unborn child, Emelia’s wild magic awakens within her.
I loved Emelia’s growth as a character in the story. When she meets Hunor (a thief), and Jem (a sorcerer and thief), she learns survival skills; she becomes proficient in the use of weapons, Hunor teaches her how to steal without getting caught, and Jem guides her in gaining control of her magic.
Emelia is not without flaws, but that makes her more real, and I found myself rooting for her.
The main supporting characters of Hunor and Jem were extremely well-crafted. Hunor comes across as a cocky, cheeky chap with a ‘devil-may-care’ attitude. He’s an accomplished thief who has made quite a few enemies on his many journeys yet he seems, on the surface, to have no fear. Jem’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder adds a twist to his character. He’s obviously gifted in the magical arts, but at the same time, there’s a vulnerability about him that is refreshing.
Vildor, Lord of the Ghasts, is deliciously evil. He and his minions will stop at nothing to get what they want and, as one might expect, are prepared to murder, subvert and possess whomever they choose.
I found all the characters to be totally believable in their respective roles and superbly written. They are complex, riveting and vibrant. I loved the way they grew naturally through the story.
One of the most important things in writing an epic fantasy is the world-building and Kitson has built a memorable, realistic and relatable realm. His description brings each city, each land, to life with colour and clarity. The history and cultures of the different lands and the events which shaped them make an impressive background and have been cleverly created. It’s richly detailed, diverse and its inhabitants are as atypical as those in our own world.
The plots and sub-plots have many twists and turns, and while some may view the overall premise of the tale as ‘predictable fantasy fodder’, I found it exciting, compelling and unexpected.
This book is incredibly well-written. The author took me on a fantastic journey that I didn’t want to end. Ross Kitson is certainly a name to watch out for – if there’s any justice in the world of publishing, he’ll be bombarded with offers and contracts!
If you love an epic fantasy that grabs you in the first couple of pages and leaves you breathless at the end for more then don’t hesitate – get this book NOW!
Emelia is an impoverished girl who was sold into servitude by her island-dwelling parents. She works hard, dreams a great deal, and has a sassy side (although she doesn’t dare show it at the beginning). She has a voice in her head (Emebaka), an alter-ego of sorts, who often encourages her to step outside her comfort zone yet is occasionally the voice of reason. When Emelia’s closest friend is murdered by the father of her unborn child, Emelia’s wild magic awakens within her.
I loved Emelia’s growth as a character in the story. When she meets Hunor (a thief), and Jem (a sorcerer and thief), she learns survival skills; she becomes proficient in the use of weapons, Hunor teaches her how to steal without getting caught, and Jem guides her in gaining control of her magic.
Emelia is not without flaws, but that makes her more real, and I found myself rooting for her.
The main supporting characters of Hunor and Jem were extremely well-crafted. Hunor comes across as a cocky, cheeky chap with a ‘devil-may-care’ attitude. He’s an accomplished thief who has made quite a few enemies on his many journeys yet he seems, on the surface, to have no fear. Jem’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder adds a twist to his character. He’s obviously gifted in the magical arts, but at the same time, there’s a vulnerability about him that is refreshing.
Vildor, Lord of the Ghasts, is deliciously evil. He and his minions will stop at nothing to get what they want and, as one might expect, are prepared to murder, subvert and possess whomever they choose.
I found all the characters to be totally believable in their respective roles and superbly written. They are complex, riveting and vibrant. I loved the way they grew naturally through the story.
One of the most important things in writing an epic fantasy is the world-building and Kitson has built a memorable, realistic and relatable realm. His description brings each city, each land, to life with colour and clarity. The history and cultures of the different lands and the events which shaped them make an impressive background and have been cleverly created. It’s richly detailed, diverse and its inhabitants are as atypical as those in our own world.
The plots and sub-plots have many twists and turns, and while some may view the overall premise of the tale as ‘predictable fantasy fodder’, I found it exciting, compelling and unexpected.
This book is incredibly well-written. The author took me on a fantastic journey that I didn’t want to end. Ross Kitson is certainly a name to watch out for – if there’s any justice in the world of publishing, he’ll be bombarded with offers and contracts!
If you love an epic fantasy that grabs you in the first couple of pages and leaves you breathless at the end for more then don’t hesitate – get this book NOW!
September 30, 2018
I really enjoyed this book.
It tells the story of a young girl who is sold into a form of servitude, amounting to slavery, who eventually rebels against her lot in life and escapes with a pair of thieves. She thereupon joins the thieves in their chosen lifestyle. Along the way, she discovers she possesses "wild magic". But underlying these events is an ongoing dark plot by "evil" to destroy the world as our main characters know it. The story-line portrays how the various characters coalesce to confront this evil.
The story is well told with only a few of the typical grammatical errors we've unfortunately come to expect in self published or weakly edited eBooks. The characters are engaging and well developed. There is also good mix of action and world building to go with the character development. By the end of the book I liked the primary characters and was invested in the story.
If I had one criticism of the book, it would be that there was almost too much setup of the world in this book. Now I want a book to layout the background and develop the primary characters, so this is a fine line. But as an example, there was one entire group of characters who were introduced and given some of the pages of this book to describe who they were and what they were doing...but who actually didn't contribute much to the plot of this book. They likely could have been introduced in the next book with their pages in this book dedicated to something else.
But I don't want anyone to dwell on my slight criticism. The book was very good and I will definitely buy a sequel.
It tells the story of a young girl who is sold into a form of servitude, amounting to slavery, who eventually rebels against her lot in life and escapes with a pair of thieves. She thereupon joins the thieves in their chosen lifestyle. Along the way, she discovers she possesses "wild magic". But underlying these events is an ongoing dark plot by "evil" to destroy the world as our main characters know it. The story-line portrays how the various characters coalesce to confront this evil.
The story is well told with only a few of the typical grammatical errors we've unfortunately come to expect in self published or weakly edited eBooks. The characters are engaging and well developed. There is also good mix of action and world building to go with the character development. By the end of the book I liked the primary characters and was invested in the story.
If I had one criticism of the book, it would be that there was almost too much setup of the world in this book. Now I want a book to layout the background and develop the primary characters, so this is a fine line. But as an example, there was one entire group of characters who were introduced and given some of the pages of this book to describe who they were and what they were doing...but who actually didn't contribute much to the plot of this book. They likely could have been introduced in the next book with their pages in this book dedicated to something else.
But I don't want anyone to dwell on my slight criticism. The book was very good and I will definitely buy a sequel.
April 14, 2012
Born with strange silver-grey eyes, Emelia is trapped in servitude to uncaring and haughty masters. Technically she is a ‘hired servant’ and not a slave, but the family who ‘employs’ her and others like her own her, body and soul. It is a life that is harsh and unforgiving to a girl hears voices that counsel rebellion and who frequently crosses the line and forgets her place through no fault of her own. Even so, she has friends and loved ones within the servant community, and even a wistful romantic interest. Because of her eyes, she is called ‘Star-Eyed’, and it is suspected that one of her ancestors was actually a ‘Subaquan’ or a merman. Events happen to Emelia and she finds herself caught up in them, unable to control them or to avoid the punishments that surely follow.
The family that employs her, the Ebon-Farrs are members of an elite and highly-placed nobility with many important connections. They are also possessed of an item, a Crystal that the Arch-mage, Inkas-Tarr desires and plans to steal. Inkas also desires to possess Emelia, and he makes a bargain with the Ebon-Farrs to purchase her. Arch-mage Inkas is the highest ranking Elemental master and he sees something in her that he wishes to have at his enclave to study.
Before that can happen, she inadvertently runs afoul of Uthor Ebon-Farr, the arrogant son of the house, and strange powers emerge within her, but she is unaware of what has happened, only that strange things are happening to her, and that she is punished severely for the events that she had no control over.
On the night that she makes her escape from her masters, Emelia meets two men, Hunor and Jem, who are attempting to steal the very crystal that Arch-mage Inkas has also sent a thief after. Things begin to really go awry, but it turns out that Emelia is a Wild Mage, and is the antitheses of the Elemental Mages.
It turns out that the crystal is actually a dangerous and powerful magical artifact, one of the Prisms of Power - ancient artifacts made by a long dead race containing terrifying magic.
Once she is embroiled with Hunor and Jem, she embarks upon an epic adventure to find the Prisms. The Prisms are necessary to defeat the lord of the ghasts, the undead mages who are unequivocally evil. No wishy-washy maybe-they-are evil here!!! The Lord of the Ghasts is Evil. Emelia holds the key to their location but the Wild-magic comes at a dire cost...that of her mind.
Kitson has created a world that is fully fleshed in both its history and its social structure, and built a system of magic that is logical and is fully believable. The details are slipped into the story in such a way that the reader does not get bored. I was able to fully picture the world that Kitson describes, and found myself immersed in the lives of Emelia, Hunor and Jem. I didn't want the book to end!
The family that employs her, the Ebon-Farrs are members of an elite and highly-placed nobility with many important connections. They are also possessed of an item, a Crystal that the Arch-mage, Inkas-Tarr desires and plans to steal. Inkas also desires to possess Emelia, and he makes a bargain with the Ebon-Farrs to purchase her. Arch-mage Inkas is the highest ranking Elemental master and he sees something in her that he wishes to have at his enclave to study.
Before that can happen, she inadvertently runs afoul of Uthor Ebon-Farr, the arrogant son of the house, and strange powers emerge within her, but she is unaware of what has happened, only that strange things are happening to her, and that she is punished severely for the events that she had no control over.
On the night that she makes her escape from her masters, Emelia meets two men, Hunor and Jem, who are attempting to steal the very crystal that Arch-mage Inkas has also sent a thief after. Things begin to really go awry, but it turns out that Emelia is a Wild Mage, and is the antitheses of the Elemental Mages.
It turns out that the crystal is actually a dangerous and powerful magical artifact, one of the Prisms of Power - ancient artifacts made by a long dead race containing terrifying magic.
Once she is embroiled with Hunor and Jem, she embarks upon an epic adventure to find the Prisms. The Prisms are necessary to defeat the lord of the ghasts, the undead mages who are unequivocally evil. No wishy-washy maybe-they-are evil here!!! The Lord of the Ghasts is Evil. Emelia holds the key to their location but the Wild-magic comes at a dire cost...that of her mind.
Kitson has created a world that is fully fleshed in both its history and its social structure, and built a system of magic that is logical and is fully believable. The details are slipped into the story in such a way that the reader does not get bored. I was able to fully picture the world that Kitson describes, and found myself immersed in the lives of Emelia, Hunor and Jem. I didn't want the book to end!
July 20, 2014
I'd been mulling over picking up a fantasy series and had several options but ended up going with this one. A marvelous choice as it happens.
Emelia is a low-born waif with little prospects for anything beyond a life of servitude at the outset, but by the time of adolescence she as well as scant few others begin to realize there is something odd about her. Before anyone can investigate these mysterious aspects properly, Emelia is thrust into a whirlwind adventure when suddenly embarking upon an entirely new life path. Brave heroes, knights, warriors, mages and thieves abound in this multi-faceted tale. A malevolent force of epic proportions also rears its vile head and we come to know him as a true evil who has fostered destruction through many time periods.
Just the first in the series and I'm off to get the second book presently. Gripping, enthralling work and one truly fantastic world lie within.
Emelia is a low-born waif with little prospects for anything beyond a life of servitude at the outset, but by the time of adolescence she as well as scant few others begin to realize there is something odd about her. Before anyone can investigate these mysterious aspects properly, Emelia is thrust into a whirlwind adventure when suddenly embarking upon an entirely new life path. Brave heroes, knights, warriors, mages and thieves abound in this multi-faceted tale. A malevolent force of epic proportions also rears its vile head and we come to know him as a true evil who has fostered destruction through many time periods.
Just the first in the series and I'm off to get the second book presently. Gripping, enthralling work and one truly fantastic world lie within.
February 10, 2013
Masterfully written, fresh and coherent! A 5 star book and a must-read for any fan of intelligent fantasy.
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